no shishito, sherlock

you know that kind of meal that changes everything?  that makes you feel like somehow, in some way, your life shall never be the same again?  that makes you want to escape saturday morning detention and do crazy 80’s dancing in the school library instead, as you defy stereotypes of simple terms and convenient definitions?  the kind of meal that makes you find yourself, months later, sitting at your desk typing in such absurdly dramatic fashion that you almost don’t believe it yourself?  enough, let us holster our hyperbole, stash our john hughes references, and talk about rice cakes…

asian rice cakes are, let’s not mince words here, awesomesauce.  (and i don’t use words ending in “–sauce” lightly.)  now, these aren’t the crunchy, airy discs of near-cardboard you’ll find in the snack aisle, dredged in dust and a complete dearth of flavour.  no, no.  these are like noodles to the nth degree; rice compressed into a single bite that is at once dense, chewy, toothsome and delicious.  i have a weakness for rice cakes in the same way that i do for dumplings: for me, one is george clooney, the other is matt damon.  no matter which one ends up on your plate, either way you’re watching ocean’s 11, someone’s awfully dishy, and you’re one happy camper.

i had a spectacular night out at Joule this summer; one of my favourite restaurants.  less breakfast club, more dinner club, but just as life-changingly awesome.  i now know, for one, that should i ever be in the dire situation of choosing a last meal, it’s going to be crispy rice cakes with chorizo and pickled mustard greens.  done and boom.

the food at Joule (and its sister restaurant, Revel) is beyond amazing; the kind that lives on in your taste memory, igniting appetites and yelling rousing battle cries, “to the kitchen!  stand by your spatula!”  never one to ignore my appetite, i decided that, by gum, if i couldn’t eat at these restaurants every weekend, then i would just bring the mountain to me.  a food detective i became, jotting down scrawled (more scrawled the more wine i drank) notes breaking down what i believed the flavours to be. 

some chili, for sure.  salty: perhaps soy?  the sauce was sweet, but also pungent.  it was almost miso-like in its somewhat fermented, funky way.  armed with my pages of notes and conspiracy theories, i donned my deerstalker and headed off to my local asian supermarché.  middle menschkin agreed to be my watson, dressing in what she deemed an appropriate way. 

hmm.  perhaps more ron swanson meets dolly parton, but still.  off we went, regardless.  after scouring the aisles of uwajimaya, i discovered a chili paste made with…  fermented beans.  ding ding!  slap my bum and call me sherlock, i think we’ve cracked it!  home we rolled to 221B baker street, armed with ssamjang, doenjang, gochujang, some other things ending in –jang, and by george we set to work…

crispy rice cakes with chorizo and pickled mustard greens (attempting to live up to the wonderful original that you can order from Joule)

sauce:

½ cup water

¼ cup sugar

1 cup ssamjang (fermented bean & chili paste)

2 tbsps soy sauce

2 tsps rice vinegar

1/2lb good-quality bulk chorizo (local peeps, i like the kind you can buy from ballard market)

1 pack frozen rice cakes, thawed

¼ cup finely-chopped pickled mustard greens

2 tbsps thinly-sliced shallots

to make the sauce, heat the water and sugar in a saucepan until the sugar dissolves.  add the ssamjang paste and stir until it’s incorporated and smooth.  stir in soy sauce and vinegar, then simmer for 5 minutes or a titch longer until it has reduced & thickened somewhat.

in a skillet over medium heat, sauté chorizo until cooked through.  remove chorizo from pan, leaving 1-2 tbsps of oil behind.  add rice cakes and sauté until cooked through and crispy on the outside, 3 mins or so on each side.  (take care to not cook too long, as i have been known to do, or they can become a bit stodgy.)

add sauce to the pan with the rice cakes, add chorizo, and stir to coat.  sprinkle the pickled mustard greens on top, then the scallions, and dig in.  (if eating the real thing in Joule, try not to order a 3^rd or 4^th portion.  it’s hard…)

for those of you who might be interested, and want the short-hand recipes, the other dishes at SleuthFeast were as follows: 

Revel’s braised short rib dumplings:

shred meat from braised short ribs, mix with some sautéed ginger, garlic and shallots.  add some finely chopped scallions, soy sauce, and sesame oil.  stuff dumpling wrappers with 1 tbsp filling.  

pan-fry and serve with chili oil.

david chang’s cured hamachi with horseradish-edamame puree and furikake:

i used the more sustainable black cod, and it still tasted great.  pound some peppercorns and coriander seed, add some salt and sugar, and coat your piece of fish.  leave to cure in fridge for 2-3 hours.  puree cooked edamame with grated horseradish, soy sauce, and water, then strain.  thinly slice fish and serve sprinkled with furikake seasoning and sauce, with some pea shoots to garnish.

shishito peppers:

wash shishito peppers and sauté whole with a glug of olive oil for 10 minutes or so until slightly charred and wilted.  sprinkle with a little salt and serve.  (i ate these so fast, i have no photo of them.  love these bites of happy spicy goodness.)

and momofuku pork buns:

i’ll let the good people of epicurious explain this one.  we used pre-made buns from the freezer section of our asian supermarché, but they were still heavenly.  

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Pork-Belly-Buns-240258#

in conclusion, i don’t know which of these recipes was the brain, the athlete, the princess, the basket case, or the criminal… but i do know that my weekend in cooking detention was worth every bloody bit of it.  and i, for one, can’t wait to do it all over again. 

does that answer your question?  

sincerely yours, the dinner club.